May 03, 2012

Weaver Wonder Wins One for Woeful Angels: Before only 27,288 fans, local boy Jered Weaver helped the Angels forget their slow start by striking out nine and walking one in the first home no-hitter for the team since Nolan Ryan's in 1975.

The Rangers are cooling off, so this is a well-timed accomplishment to revive the Angels. I'm not liking that. But kudos to the guy who gave his team a $20 million discount when he re-signed in 2011.

Angel Stadium holds 64,593. It has to be pretty disappointing for ownership to put all that money into Albert Pujols and C.J. Wilson and see a stadium 58 percent empty in May.

From the Times: "The Angels sold 27,338 tickets to an April 16 game against Oakland. For the first time in 689 games -- a streak extending to 2003 -- the Angels sold fewer than 30,000 tickets. They did it again on April 18, and a third time on April 19. The signing of Pujols triggered the sale of more than 5,000 season tickets, so the star first baseman might have been all that stood between the Angels and a crowd of 22,000."

I'm not surprised that Weaver got his no-no. My son and I saw him vs Zack Greinke in a masterpiece during the 2010 season. Each pitcher had 11 Ks, neither had a decision, and Angels won on a walk-off HR in the 10th. Weaver's stuff can be dominating, and when he is changing speeds, he's nearly unhittable.